


Flower - Hanahaki

by whoknowswhere



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: First Dates, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Movie Dates, rebound again, underworld adventure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-24 14:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21339730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoknowswhere/pseuds/whoknowswhere
Summary: “Marco!” Tom pushed the washroom door open and banged it on the wall, walked along a meandering line of bloody petals, “Marco, where are you?”Fearfully checked out the bottom of each stall, he soon saw the floor of one of the stalls covered in crimson read petals. Panic, Tom melted the lock of the door and kicked it open.Blood, rough and vast like ocean, leaking from the corner of Marco’s mouth, his shirt, his abnormally swelled chest and dozens of petals on his thighs, like wave that would drown him and swallow him as a whole.“Marco!” Tom reached out to the unconscious youth, only to be shocked by his ice-cold body temperature.
Relationships: Marco Diaz/Tom Lucitor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 196





	Flower - Hanahaki

**Author's Note:**

> It's another parallel universe of the world of "Flower - Carnem Manducans", both happened after Marco and Star's breakup.

Marco remembered the night he broke up with Star, they laid on the roof of Star’s new residence, took in the sweet smell of summery bloom. He felt tear running down his cool-skinned face and vaporize into the arid atmosphere.

He heard Star’s sobbing an apology, tried not to look at her sorrowful expression. He was, after all, a guy, he cannot bare the sight of a girl crying for him.Marco can’t fall asleep, he was physical exhausted yet mentally lucid. With last sigh struggled out of his lung, he sat up and call Tom. Tom broke up with Star, twice. He must be able to provide him some useful tips.

After the tone rang twice the demon opened up his mirror.

“What the hell…Marco? Do you know what time is it… what happen?” Tom complained yet immediately acknowledge that Marco is in the state of distress. He rubbed his makeupless eyes, feeling a little bit conscious about his appearance, but he started to get used to showing his natural side to this human.

“Sorry, Tom…sorry, no big deal, I will call another time…sorry.” Marco tried his best to hide his shaky voice. He felt a bit cheesy for pretending he’s ok, knowing Tom would not say no to his friend.

“No! No no, you are not feeling ok, right? Talk to me Marco.” Tom tensed up, strengthen up his body, “What happen? It’s ok, I can be a good listener.”

A laughter escaped from Marco as he held the mirror closer, Tom was indeed good at that, although it sounded weird coming from a demon, “Thanks Tom…it’s really…no big deal, just that I …” Breath in, “I and Star broke up.”  
The demon blinked, then blinked again as he processed this information. 

“Marco…eh…I am sorry to hear that.” After a few seconds, Tom’s voice softened, “I will be here for whatever you want to talk about.”

“Thanks..I..don’t really know what to talk about ,really.” Marco’s expression became less intense. 

“Did…she break up with you?” Tom carefully asked.

“Well…it’s kinda a mutual break up.”

Tom scratched his messy hair, “that’s still rough…hmm, Marco, you wanna hang out? I found a pretty cool place in the underworld recently, wanna explore it with me?”

Marco smiled at Tom’s attempt in distracting him from his breakup. He never said no to other people’s good intention and he was not about to start. Plus, he still felt bad about dumping his emotion garbage on Tom this late at night, “Sure.”

“That’s great, I will come pick you up after your...skool…session?” Tom summoned his calendar, “at 4pm of your time.”

“Tom…You kept my schedule?” Marco asked with a hint of surprise.

“What…Yeah, of course, didn’t want to call you at a bad time.” Tom kept flipping the calendar as they spoke, wasn’t paying attention to Marco’s tone.

Warmth emerged from the bottom of Marco’s heart calmed his nerve. He watched Tom with gratitude and appreciation. Marco honestly hasn’t spent too much time with Tom since he started dating Star, yet Tom responded to him like a true friend when he was in need of help. The feeling made his throat itched.

“Do you have time this Friday?”  
“I do. “Marco nodded.  
“Great, I will see you after skool.”

Marco closed the mirror. He hardly remembered he just broke up with Star. Their conversation was short yet relaxing. It felt secured to be able to talk to his close friend after his breakup, to know he’s not alone and undesirable. Marco took a deep breath and smell the summary bloom from window crack, all of sudden found his trachea itchier than before. 

Must be some pollen from flowers. He thought to himself and went silently closed his eyes. 

By the time Friday, Marco was ready to go on an adventure with his demon friend and temporary left his life behind.

As soon as he stepped out of school, he saw Tom’s carriage.  
It used to be a novelty to see a specially designed carriage running around town, however people became more adapted to items as such ever since Marco and Star’s world merged. If people are more acceptance to magical being like Tom, maybe it’s not bad to date Star after all.

“Hey, Marco!” Tom waved at Marco cheerfully from the window of the carriage, from his expression Marco can tell Tom was trying to hide his animated mood, considered Tom knew that he just broke up with Star.

“Hi, Tom, has been a while, how it goes?” Marco entered the carriage. Soon they are gone to the underworld with a flash of flame.  
“Pretty good, Marco. Long time. How have…” Tom wanted to politely return the greeting, soon realized that might open a can of worm. He paused for a moment, then nonchalantly changed the topic, “ So this place I am gonna show you, it’s kinda far away from my home, I went there by accident. The hellhorse was in a funky mood one day, she started racing a creature on my way home.”

Marco only smiled and nodded.  
“Apparently underworld has a lot of interesting mines, I stumbled upon an opal mine when hellhorse stopped racing that creature. I also checked out the structure of the mine, it’s safe enough for human to explore, plenty of oxygens too.”

As the carriage stopped Tom stepped out of it with Marco.  
Marco opened his eyes wide to observe the mine in front out him. It was unlike dirty and gas filled mines of human world, Tom’s world has mines like a bright cave with a lot of lighting sources, stalactite with icy water dripping down from the top, forming a large pond at the bottom end of the mine.

Breathless and amazed by the sight, Marco’s eyes glowed with the colorful opal radiated with magical power coursed through the cave. Magic traveled pass the opals like blood traveling through the vein, lighting up craven as it went. The cave quietly set into its own rhythm as if it had life of its own.  
“Tom…this is …”  
The demon gave him a snarky smile, he gentle grabbed Marco hand and led him downwards, looked over the pond, “Wait till you see this.”

The magic deposited in the pond lighted up the entire cave, opals glimmered through the water like eternal moonlight. Marco wondered closer to the pond, unaware his crescent marks glowed on his cheek. All of sudden he was full, the kind of fullness that could almost be compared to reverberation, even though he barely knew what that meant.

“….mesmerizing.” He whispers quietly, feeling drowsy as if he was drunk on the air.

“Right? It’s different…from the rest of the underworld.” Tom walked closer to Marco, faced the pond with great pride.

They kept staring at the pond while drowning in precious serenity, never felt obligated to say anything until Tom eventually broke the silence.  
“Marco, hey…” Tom turned his head to the human, watching him turn to him.  
“Yeah?”  
“There are many mines and other attractions in the underworld, once I found something interesting, I will let you know?”

Marco looked into Tom’s eye speechlessly.  
“Look…” Tom stared another direction, biting his lips lightly, after carefully choosing his words, he opened his mouth again, “Relationship sucks, or at least, I am not good at it. But you know…you are not alone; you are never alone. Marco, you will always have me.”

A surge of magic deposited into the pond, Opals brightened up the cave and all the dusts drifting midair. Marco’s hair floated as his face heated up.

Unaware Marco’s changes, Tom continued to talk, “I will find other places to hang out, and…I can come to earth-mewni-world to see you, right?”

Marco can sense the corner of his mouth started to form a big smile, yet a sharp pain poked his throat, before he can say “yes”, he tasted earth and blood as he bends down his body and coughs.

“Marco! Are you alright?”  
“I…” Marco opened his mouth only to shut it again. The cold air from the cave stung his trachea and esophagus, he quickly shook his head.

“Ok.ok..eh…” Tom sounded panicking, he grabbed Marco arm to help him up, “ Maybe I should not let you stay here for so long, it is full of magic and breeze.”

“It’s ok…Tom. I am ok.” After the pain subsided, Marco turned his head to Tom to comfort him, “probably because I sucked in some cold air by accident.”

Tom sighed and walked Marco into the elevator, “ Well…you can never be too careful, let’s go somewhere else warmer.”

Marco nodded and left the cave with Tom.

**  
As unusual as it might seem, the next time he bumped into Star, he did not feel the need to hide like he did with Jackie. When he looked at Star’s face, he remembered their good old days, remembered their laughers, remember the moment they fell in love at the hog-goat creature shed. He was truly happy that he would keep all those memories, and he and Star can still be friends in the future.

“Hi..Marco.” Star greeted him shyly.  
“Oh, hi, Star.” Marco openly responded to her greetings.

“How…was your weekend?” Star shifted her body uncomfortably, tried to avoid eye contacts.  
“Great, I am doing great. How’s yours?”

Star frowned her eyebrow and observe Marco’s reaction with scrutiny, their conversation was too normal to be normal, “Marco…are you feeling ok?”  
“ What …sure I am doing alright.” Marco replied.

“You don’t have the need to run away, cry, hide?” Star asked.  
“ No…not really.” Marco slowly shook his head, absentmindedly thinking about his amazing, magical weekend with Tom at the opal cave. The sharp pokey sensation came back again, this time with more force. Marco painful bend down his back and started to cough hoarsely.

“Marco?!” Star reached out to pat Marco’s back, yet he quickly retreated to the other side of the hallway.  
“Cough…It’s ok, Star, I think I might have a cold…just..Cough!” Marco groaned as he ran away from the hallway.

“Marco…?” Star quickly noticed the petal on the ground. She picked up the petal and looked around for signs of others carrying flowers. Realizing nobody had any flower on them, she narrowed her sight suspiciously at the exit Marco took.

He ran and ran and ran, hid himself at a corner. Marco looked down at the strange object on his palm—lavender color petal. He swallowed the taste of iron and earth, scrambled his mind to only come up with one medical term – Hanahaki.

It is a foreign term for earthlings, however the disease was recorded in Mewnis’ medical history. The coughing of flower, an illness born from unrequited love. The person in contract with this illness will not stop coughing and vomiting petals until they confess their love to the designated person, and received their love in return; or they will die from suffocation due the full lung of flowers and roots.

Marco frowned at himself in cold sweat.  
This disease needs magic to develop, which explains why no Mewni and Human were infected by it after their world combined. Taking one step backwards, even if it was able to develop in this world, he was not in love with anyone.  
…Was he?

Was he still in love with Star? No. Marco shook his head.  
“You will always have me.”

Marco groaned again at his chest pain, terrified at the sensation of something growing inside of him like unwelcoming parasite. The warmth of his body gave the foundation to an alien plant. His chest was aching and his lung being slowly eating away.  
But the most horrified realization was when he came to notice whom he fell in love with.  
TOM.

Tom…the prince of fire and underworld, who stayed up late at night to listen to him, who understood him unlike any of his friends. Marco had a lot of friends; none had some much common with him compared to Tom.

Marco wanted to breath in his excitement upon realizing his new found love, yet the unpleasant sharp pain quickly reminded him the conundrum he’s facing. He can never love Tom, not only for Hanahaki, but also to avoid ruining their relationships. Marco covered his mouth and coughed again, only seeing more petals falling off his palm.

But what can he do? Have to roots removed along with this new love, what if he cannot remember Tom as a good friend? And what? He will live life as usual afterwards, forgetting about the Marco who lov…liked Tom? 

Marco’s body trembled in fear. He might had run away from his emotion, he might had hidden his adoration, but he had never denied his affection, not to Jackie, not to Star, and 100% not to Tom.

**  
Tom noticed his mirror was ringing while his hookup buddy left for a shower. 

“Hey Marco.” Tom opened the mirror, smiled at his friend.  
“Hi Tom.” Marco smiled back.

“What’s up?” Tom flipped his body over on his bed, torso absolutely naked from previous activities.  
Marco squinted his eye suspiciously at Tom’s messy hair and dark pink skin, “Tom…are you nude?”

“Ops, sorry… I was..occupied.” Tom answer the question lightheartedly, face filled with uncanny satisfactory.  
“o…k, I was thinking…”

“Hey, where do you put the body lotion?”  
Tom looked the other direction where the voice came from, Marco could see from the corner of the mirror a female standing in the dark. Tom broke away from their eye contact and turned his head to the female figure.

“Oh, in the cabinet.”

Marco’s face paled.  
Tom has an intimate relationship with a female.

He never expected Tom’s love to simply fall on his lap, but he was not prepared to see his love die in the cradle either. Unable to carry on their conversation, Marco closed the mirror.  
“Marco…do you wanna….Marco?”Tom looked back at the empty mirror, “Must be outta juice..”

Marco laid on his bed, tears tracing down his cheeks. He wasn’t too sure why he cried; he wasn’t that attached to the idea of being with Tom. Yet he sighed and he sobbed. It does not matter, he could fall in love a million times with different people, but he would never find the one.

Why would he? Or rather, how many people in their life ended up living with their true love?  
And what is the point for trying? He had a chance with Jackie, he had a chance with Star, looked where those went. Even if he got Tom, how would he know for sure that his affection for certain demon was for real for real? What if …what if he fell out of love with Tom?

To fall out of love…. Marco shook like a lone leaf on a dying branch. 

The god-awful feeling of losing one of his emotions is like acid dissolving his soul. He just lost his feeling for Star; he did not want to lose his feeling again before he even got a chance to confess it.

His mouth tasted sour, as if flowers started to bloom in his lung, yet instead of emitting the sweet dazzling smell of aromas, they grew inwards and disintegrated into rancidity. He lost Jackie, Star, the people remind him of his adventurous days, his carefree youth, Tom is the last piece of his memories and last attempt to hold these feelings fondly in his chest.

He did not want to ask Star for it; however, she might be the only one whom knew anything about magical plants.

He waited at the fountain outside of school, trying to hide moist and blacken leaking out of his mouth.

“How to remove Hanahaki?” He asked Star, only saw her face froze with the realization.  
“Marco, who do you love?” Star quickly asked back without hesitation, tone mixed with worries and hurt, “You coughed flower petals at the hallway that day.”

She knew.  
She knew about Hanahaki, she knew about his change of heart.  
Water splashed out of the fountain and fell on his shoulder like icy needle. Marco numbly turned his body away from Star in shame, unprepared for the obvious question to follow.  
“Marco, don’t go…please, I don’t care who…” Star yelled at his back, “I don’t, I just don’t want you to die.”

***  
He can’t hear what else came out of Star’s mouth, Marco was running without looking back as if Star became a monster, as if he was a traitor to Star. 

He was running until his mirror vibrate.  
His heartbeat increase as he opened the mirror, the demon on the other side looks full of energy and with a hint of happiness, “ Hey Marco!”  
“Oh, hi, Tom.” He breathed in and breath out at a rapid speed.

“Did I catch you at a bad time?”  
“What..no, nono, I am good. What’s up?”

Tom showcased two tickets on his hand and waved them at Marco, “Guess who got the Zuzu’s Intergalactic Adventure premier tickets?”  
Marco smiled wildly at his tickets, “ No way Tom! You have them? I thought they are sold out.”  
“ I have my sources…so, what do you say?” Tom smiled back, “ Wanna go? It’s this Friday.”

The bitterness upwelled his throat like salty waves from ocean, Marco wanted to open his mouth and say yes and only yes. Instead he covered his mouth tight and nodded furiously.  
Noticing the odd behavior, Tom frowned at him, “Marco, are you alright?”

“Ye--- I am okie---I will see you Friday nite-----” Marco barely managed to finish his sentence before closing the mirror, the petals gushed out of his mouth in dark red and purple, they smelled rusted and decayed.  
Marco can’t help to feel deep sorrow. 

Why does he have to feel bad about Tom having a partner, why can’t he just enjoy what he has, the promising night with Tom. Why does he want more, more than what he would possibly desire for? Why does he have to be greedy and salty?  
…Why can’t he stop this feeling like he stopped them for Jackie and Star?

***  
Marco started to have trouble breathing. It’s like having the worse flu, yet knowing once his pipe closed it will never be reopened.

Marco had a mask on covering his mouth while he went to the movie.  
“Marco, you…didn’t tell me you are sick.” Tom observed and politely pointed out, unsure what to do with the tickets.

“Let’s …just go, I have been wanting…to watch this movie.” Marco’s tried to form a smile through his cold sweat.  
“Ok…but if you are feeling worse..then we will go home?” Tom stared at him suspiciously.

“No.nono, I will be fine, please, Tom.” Marco smiled as he felt his lung struggle for air, lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, “I haven’t seen you for a while, I miss spending time with you.”  
If Marco was in the state of suffocation, he would have seen that the demon visibly blushed. 

Tom has been eyeing the back of Marco’s head ever since they started heading to the movie theatre. He wasn’t sure if he heard Marco right, but he sure can hear his own heartbeat. 

Tom has seen Marco’s parents; he could tell Marco must took on his mom’s features. He can still see the princess Turdina in Marco like a hidden side of his personality. His beautiful amber eye shined in the dark with lights from the movie projected onto them, long lashes fluttered like a fan.  
For some reason Marco’s chic glowed again, he quickly blushed and covered his face, eyes filled with undetectable yet cute embarrassment. 

That moment Tom realized something. Marco was too pure and precious for the world. He never doubts others’ motivation, almost too easy to fool. He’s innocent, like…  
“Dove…” Tom quietly whisper. He remembered those eyes at their moment of anger, confused and joy, how they radiate energy when Marco laughed. Nothing in the world could replace the indescribable feeling he had while he looked into those eyes.

“What did you say?” Marco’s mumble disappeared into the background music.

“No, nothing.” Tom quickly turned back and kept his eyes on the screen, felt lucky that the darkness hid his blushing. Marco started to cough uncontrollably after a while. Before Tom could expressed his concern, the teenager decided to stand up and rush to the washroom.

Tom left the theatre room before the end credit ended, forgone the Easter eggs. He took out the mirror to check his message before going to find Marco.

There were at least 10 message and missed calls from Star. Tom frowned at the mirror, “Call Star.”

“Oh God Tom! Glad you picked up!” Star was on full panic mode on the other side.

“Star…Star? What happen?” Is the world about to end, or did she suddenly know how to use magic again? They are equally terrible. Tom was startled by Star’s tone.

“Have you seen Marco? He has Hanahaki! He’s not supposed to go out!”

Tom almost dropped his mirror at the word “Hanahaki”. He is aware of that disease and what it entails. His first reaction was rage like lava erupted from his stomach, for a moment there he wanted to burn that mysterious girl alive for not responding to Marco’s affection and watched her screamed her regrets. It would be sight of satisfactory. 

What the HELL am I thinking? Tom took a deep breath to calm himself, then turned his head back to the mirror, “Hanahaki…Marco was coughing a lot… How serious is it, Star?”

“Well, Marco was coughing rusty red petals a few days back, they smelled bloody. I …Tom, I don’t think he has much time left…” Star sounded like she was about the burst in tears.

“How did this happen…Star, who..aren’t you guys..who he had a crush on?!”  
“I don’t know, Tom..I don’t…Marco hasn’t told me anything , he only asked me how to remove Hanahaki. Tom, we have to remove the flowers. This plant is magical, it would produce chemical in victim’s body so they would not want to fall out of love, to ensure the flowers mature without interruption. ” Star’s eyes watered up again, she followed up with the same question, “Have you..have you seen Marco?”

Tom blinked, “Yes, I will go grab him, and teleport to his house as soon as possible. Wait there.”

“Marco!” Tom pushed the washroom door open and banged it on the wall, walked along a meandering line of bloody petals, “Marco, where are you?”  
Fearfully checked out the bottom of each stall, he soon saw the floor of one of the stalls covered in crimson red petals. Panic, Tom melted the lock of the door and kicked it open. 

Blood, rough and vast like ocean, leaking from the corner of Marco’s mouth, on his shirt, his abnormally swelled chest and dozens of petals on his thighs, like wave that drown him and swallow him as a whole.  
“Marco!” Tom reached out to the unconscious youth, only to be shocked by his ice-cold body temperature.  
He carried Marco and kept him closed to his chest, summon his hellhorse carriage, left the scene, leaving the stall crumbled, water pipe busted, bathroom and all its users on fire.

***  
Tom sat beside Marco on his bed, his mind running miles per second. Marco is still breathing, but Star did not give him more than tonight to live.  
Marco looks like he was in constant pain while struggling harder and harder to breath. 

Tom stared at the knitting pattern of Marco’s comforter for a long time before he realized he did not know what to think.  
He did not get to ask who Marco liked; he did not know whether Marco would have the strength to answer this question. He might have to deal with Marco’s death before he would feel sad for not being able to confess his feelings.

Why…?  
Tom observe Marco in his sleep again, eyes traced his profile, from his soft brown hair, his beauty marks, to the pale skin and his emotionless face while he was not in pain.  
Fear mastered him and caught him by his throat, Tom swallowed and found out that he could not breath.

His tear traced down pink skin, left two fiery lines glimmering in the dark.  
“…Tom…?”  
“Marco!” Tom almost shouted out, then quickly decided to lower his voice, “How are you feeling, Marco?”

He leaned closer to Marco’s chest, gave him a sad smile.  
“Pain…I…Tom…”  
“Yeah?” Tom nodded.  
“…”Marco looked at him with a peaceful smile, breathed out yet did not breath in, “ I am glad… you are here, I am not afraid.”

“Don’t say that, Marco.” Tom shook his head, eye on the forehead started to tear, “I am…afraid.”  
“Why?” Marc’s question sounded like wind squished out of a half-closed pipe.

“Because…of course, what kind of stupid question is that.” Tom sighed, “Before today, I thought I can be your friend for a lot of years. Now you are telling me, you are…not…”

Marco closed his eyes again, “ It’s ok…Tom…”  
“Could you, at least tell me the name of your crush, Marco?” Tom asked, “Maybe we could go get her and ..maybe there is hope.”

Marco smiled again, this time it almost turned into a condescending laughter, “ No…he has a girlfriend.”  
“Oh…” Tom noticed the gender preference, but instead changed his style of questions, “ So, you are sure that he won’t…”

“He won’t, Tom… I called him and heard that there was a female voice calling his name.” Marco pushed himself to give Tom one last smile, his voice is about the disappeared into the autumn midnight breeze. “I …am not afraid, I already wrote my notes to my parents, and…you are here with me…Tom.”

“Yeah?” Tom tried to suck in some air from his stuffed nose.

“If you don’t mind…hear me talk about him? I’d...really want to be thinking about him when I …move on.”

Tom forced himself to nod so hard he could almost taste the mental anguish.  
Great, not only he did not get to invest his own feeling into Marco, he now has to hear about the other guy. 

But Tom agree to do it, he’d do it for Marco.

“He has a lot ego and pride.” Marco’s face seemed to lighten up, his breath smoothed and voice became less winded, “ He has a serious and scary look, but deep down he was gentle and sensitive…I always thought of him as a friend since I was 14, until our recent hangout.”  
The uncanniness of his description had Tom stared at Marco.

“He was always motivated to be a better version of himself, even though nobody asked him to. He tried to cheer me up after I broke up with Star….”  
“Marco…?” Tom narrowed his eyes at Marco, question mixed with a hint of recognition.

Marco continued to smile at his state of terminal lucidity, his vision blurred yet he was content, “There were moments I asked myself why I fell in love so easily, why now, was I this coldhearted that …I did not think highly of relationship between me and star, but I guess…at the end I can’t control who I fall in love with, how, or when. Maybe it’s the flower talking, but I felt lucky, he’s worthy of being loved.”

“Marco…are you…what’s his name?” Tom leaned even closer, he noticed Marco wasn’t responding to his voice, his pupils dilated and his mind wondered. Tom realized the teenager was merely talking for the sake of talking. Yet, Tom was tensed, breathless just like Marco.

“He even remembered my schedule, and you know what…the way he pronounces school is funny… in the cutest way. He called it Skool.”

Tom almost laughed, infuriated and bursted into tears at the same time. Simultaneously, he wanted to yell at Marco, punch his face and kiss him. After a few seconds of internal debate, he bends down and kisses the boy on the bed like a scene from Sleeping Beauty.  
He tasted sea salt caramel and honey mixed with iron, the petals started to shrink as his tongue advanced, making him wanting to lick every corner of Marco’s mouth. Tom’s breath rapid, his arms circled Marco’s wrist and lower back, pulled him in without pressing on his chest.

By the time their lips parted Tom was the one that’s out of breath.  
“It’s ok now Marco, I will love you back.” Tom said quietly, as an act to assure Hanahaki flower’s death.

He slowly put Marco back on his bed, saw blood visibly run under Marco’s ashy skin.  
Tom heard that people who were cured from Hanahaki would rest for a few days before they could fully recover their strength. The flower also took time to withered. After he checked Marco’s vitality, he took out his mirror and send a detailed message to Star.

Before he traveled back the underworld, Tom kneed down again beside Marco’s bed. He tenderly watched Marco’s face filled with tranquility, kissed his lips like feather touching the skin before departing and whispered, “Goodnight, Dove.”

**  
Marco woke up refreshing but also soaked in his parents’ tears. Without saying his parents found his note and they were overjoyed by his miraculous recovery. After hearing Tom’s good news, Star has doctors extracted the residues from his body.  
She did not ask what happened that night. Tom thought maybe deep down Star already knew. He’s ok with keeping silence of their consensus. 

“So, son~” His dad asked with curiosity and excitement, “Who you found to love?”  
Marco lifted his head and looked around, cleared his throat, “I am…actually not sure, dad.”

“But…” Raphael protested.  
“Enough honey, let Marco rest a bit, he just woke up.” Angie cut her husband off and pushed him out of the room.

“But~!” His dad pouted his lips yet had no choice but to leave.  
“Oh speaking of which, Marco.” Angie added, “there was a boy outside your room, his name is …Tom? He has been there for a while; do you want to see him?”

Marco could feel his heart jumped to his throat. He would have no explanation to offer as of why he fainted in the bathroom at the theatre, nor could he tell Tom that he had Hanahaki.  
“Son, do you want me to ask him to come back another day?” Angie asked.

“No..no, it’s ok, I want to see him.” Marco sat up and clean himself up a bit.  
Angie smiled at her son, and left the room with Marco’s dad.

“Hey…” Tom peaked his head into the room, “Marco? How’s it going, are you feeling better?”  
“Tom, I am ok.” Marco looked at Tom as he walked in, “Sorry about the movie night, I should have told you that I wasn’t feeling well.”

“You should have told me more, Marco.” Tom seriously frowned at Marco, tone darken not hiding his displease, “Why don’t you tell me that you have Hanahaki? And don’t you tell me …it was because of me...?”  
Caught off guard by Tom’s blunt comment, Marco visibly choked. His face displayed several shades of redness before he hid under his comforter, then discreetly let go of the fabric, watching Tom’s expression with half of his own face above the fabric. “You…knew.”

“Yeah I Knew!” Tom breathed in hard, tried to calm himself down and opened his mouth again, “Marco…I don’t have a girlfriend, why don’t you ask me…why do you rather risk your life than telling me the truth. Am I …am I not trustworthy?” His voice dimmed, sounded hurt.

“What… No Tom, that wasn’t it, I did not tell you…” Marco coughed a little, yet he did not let it slowed him down, “ I don’t want to loss you as a friend, I also…don’t want to lose that feeling.”  
“What feeling? No feeling is worse than knowing death is imminent!” 

“The feeling of loving someone, Tom.” Marco gave him his iconic sheepish smile, “I did not choose to fall in love with you, but I did. I cannot control that, and I don’t want to lose that, I am scared.”  
“To the point of death?! You could have been died if wasn’t for your senseless mumbling a few nights ago. When you live everything is possible, when you die it’s game over.” Tom grabbed both of Marco’s shoulder, “ And what about me? You are just gonna die without telling me? If you truly liked me, don’t you think I am entitled for your confession?” 

Marco opened his eyes wide, suddenly realized something.  
“ …I did not die.”  
“What?” Tom twitched one of his eyes.  
“I did not die, which means…you love me back.”

“Well, you see, there is this magical being fell from the sky and remove the flower…. Of court I loved you back you IDIOT! Which proves my point exactly! How…” Tom took a shaggy breath, sounded defeated, “How dare you to die without letting me acknowledge your feelings?”  
“Tom…” Marco lowered his head, uneased by Tom’s questioning. He did not miss Tom’s joy in his voice, feeling he shot himself in the feet. “I..uh…I am sorry, Tom, I should…have at least let you know. But I was afraid, I rather die without knowing than die after being rejected by you.”

“What about not getting rejected and getting to live.”  
“What are the chances?!” Marco yelled back.

“Better than lay down and die!” Tom raised his voice along with the temperature surrounding them.  
“And why you!”  
Tom’s body visibly backed away an inch, hurt written all over his face.

“Why you, Tom? I …don’t want to ruin what we have, what happen if…it didn’t work, will I lose you too? Like how I lost Star and Jackie.”  
“Marco, you never lost Star and Jackie.”

Sighed loudly, Marco avoided Tom the comment, “ No, not physically.”  
“So that’s it? You are afraid of the aftermath of an imaginary breakup, so you rather not have it at all? The Marco I knew is stronger than this!” Tom responded; tone filled with disappointment. 

“Tom, how could you …”  
“Because you are strong and magical and worth the try!” Tom cut in before Marco finished the question, “Remember the time we spend venturing? And the time just you and me in the Opal cave? And remember you taught me things about other dimensions? We had fun. And look at you now, you are gorgeous and sublime and, and everything I ever wanted at that moment. Ain’t nothing in the world would stop me from trying to have you. If I give up before it started, I would have nothing, if I tried and I fail I would have nothing, there is nothing to lose.”

“There is nothing…to lose.” Marco repeated the sentence like a spell, lifted his head the first time since his recovery to face Tom. Tom’s face depicted fear, uncertainty and all the nameless emotions while someone is proposing, but also slight hint of hope.  
To hope one could to be depended on, to be needed, cherished, and most importantly, to be loved.  
What am I doing running away from this while Tom is clearly ready for a new journey? Marco mentally slapped himself.

His chest warms up like the night he spends at opal cave by Tom’s bravery. For a second Marco worried that he might get Hanahaki again, then he remembered in the book they said people would be immune to the same infection. 

He was hot for Tom. For real, without Hanahaki.

“What do you say, Marco, wanna give it a try?” Tom reached out with his hand to Marco.  
The human looked at Tom’s hand, spaced out of a nano second. This hand would mean a new future, that he would be open to a new possibility with Tom, an angry self-righteous yet brave demon.

It would mean he’s both the prince and the princess of his fairy tale, and everything is just at its beginning.

Marco took his hand, feeling the heat from the body in front of him. Tom lips were inches away from him. He closed his eyes docilely and let the same heat touching his skin. He felt full again like he was in the opal cave to the point that it brought him to tears.  
“What’s wrong, love?” Tom broke off their lip contact, gently wiped tears off Marco’s face. 

“Love?”Marco felt gigglish.

“Well you are, so that’s what I am gonna call you.” Tom grimed.

Marco wanted to tease Tom to no end, yet sensed another wave of dizziness swoop him, it’s truly too much for him to process given he only woke up 15 minutes ago. “Tom…” Marco wanted to explain.  
“Sleep?” Tom nodded at him and kissed the boy’s forehead, the third eye never broke contact with him. “If you don’t mind, I will be here with you.”

Marco reached out grab Tom’s hand, relaxed his body on the bed, feeling the warmness from Tom's body heat. Strangely, Tom’s intense gaze calms him.  
He closed his eyes and let the dream world take him away. 

He dreamed about Tom in his sleep while watching Mackie Hand Zombie beating down bad guys, while they were in the opal cave hearing the sound of water drips. 

He dreamed of flame flowers, just like the one Tom presented to Star when they first met, only this time the demon placed the flower on his chest as if he’s taking him to prom. The care and passion in the demon’s three eyes are almost palpable. Marco looked down and meticulously touched the flower to felt the warmth and texture of its petal, saw magic power floating out from its pistil. 

Tom hugged him and circled his body under the moonlight like an invaluable treasure that worthy of all the protection in the world. Marco closed his eyes and pressed his chest to Tom’s. He can hear heart beats of them in sync through the flaming flower. And he knew, in return of Tom’s love, one day this flaming bud will bloom in full, as its glow lead his path to Tom like hell's gate light.


End file.
